


The Little Old Lady From Across The Hall

by RichardGraysonPercyJackson



Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [8]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, meet the neighbor, subtle implication of Catalina Flores, subtle implication of rape/non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24841180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardGraysonPercyJackson/pseuds/RichardGraysonPercyJackson
Summary: Slade meets the neighbor who gave Dick pepper spray for their first date
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Slade Wilson
Series: The Acrobat and The Mercenary [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1323779
Comments: 29
Kudos: 287





	The Little Old Lady From Across The Hall

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to AmaraRae whose comments on my "You Are Perfect" story almost made me cry from guilt.
> 
> I felt like you deserved this

“There’s an old woman who lives across the hall from you,” Slade said as Dick let him into the apartment and closed the door behind him.

“Yeah, her name’s Mildred,” Dick said with a shrug as they moved into the kitchen where Dick had coffee ready although Slade had said he wasn’t allowed to touch the oven and that the mercenary would make breakfast when he got there. “She’s nice.”

“I beg to differ.”

Dick raised an eyebrow as they took a seat at the table with their drinks. “Oh? And why’s that?” he asked, trying not to smile.

“She just pointed a gun at me and told me to watch myself.”

“Ooh no, big bad Deathstroke just got threatened by a little old lady,” Dick mocked, face bursting into a grin. “So scawy.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t, not anymore,” Dick corrected cheerfully. “Mildred is nice.”

“She threatened to call the police.”

“She’s protective.”

“This is a communal apartment building, she’s not the only one who lives here.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “Not of the building, dumbass, of me.”

Slade analyzed him for a few seconds. “ _That’s_ the neighbor who gave you pepper spray on our first date?”

“What did you expect, someone like you?”

“I didn’t expect a frail old woman, certainly,” Slade replied.

“I’m sure.” Dick’s eyes lit up and he jumped to his feet. “You gotta meet her!”

“I already did, thank you.”

“Don’t be a party pooper, come on!” Dick said, grabbing Slade’s wrist and dragging him to the door. Attempting to, as he knew he couldn’t actually move the mercenary if the mercenary did not want to be moved.

Heaving a long sigh, Slade slipped his wrist out of Dick’s hold and stood. “I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

“No I don’t.”

………………………………….

“Hello Dickie,” Mildred said cheerfully when she opened the door. “How are you?”

“I’m great, Millie, thank you,” Dick said before grabbing Slade’s arm. “I wanted to introduce you to Slade.”

“Big man,” she commented and Slade raised an eyebrow at the feeling of being sized up, as if the little Beta was preparing to fight him one on one. “How old are you?”

Dick’s face burned. “Um-”

“Sixty-three.”

“And what makes you think you have any right to taint this beautiful angel boy?” MIldred demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring up at Slade while Dick’s face burned.

“Kid’s already been tainted, ma’am,” Slade said, not missing the way Dick seemed to tense, color draining out of his face. “There’s not much more I can do.”

“Now you listen here, you son of a-”

“Okay, I think that’s enough meeting the neighbor’s now,” Dick said, reaching out to place a hand on Slade’s wrist.

It was shaking.

“Slade means well, Mildred, he just doesn’t meet new people well.”

“Evidently.” she shoved a finger in Slade’s chest. “I’ll be watching you.”

Slade hummed but said nothing as Dick dragged him back to the acrobat’s apartment, closing and locking the door behind him.

“I am going to take a quick shower since I didn’t get one after patrol last night,” Dick said as he removed his still shaking hand from Slade’s arm. “Why don’t you get started on-”

“Are you okay?”

“What?” Dick’s eyes were wide, his face still white and his reply too quick.

“Are you okay?” Slade repeated, a bit more gently than before. “You’re pale and shaking.”

“Just hungry, haven’t eaten all morning since someone insisted on meeting the neighbor.”

That got Slade off the topic and the mercenary frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I didn’t insist-”

“So why don’t you just go make breakfast while I shower?” Dick asked before heading quickly down the hall and more or less slamming the bedroom door behind himself.

……………………………………..

“Can you just move in and make me breakfast all the time?” Dick asked as they sat at the kitchen table with their eggs and toast, the acrobat’s hair damp and skin pink from the shower, as though he’d had the water turned up too high.

Slade wouldn’t have been surprised. “No,” he replied.

Dick pouted. “Why?”

“Because your apartment is the shittiest place I have ever had the displeasure of stepping into.”

Dick scowled. “That’s rude.”

“Perhaps but you can’t say it’s not true,” Slade said calmly before taking a bite of egg in a childish attempt to prevent Dick from saying anything else.

The acrobat rolled his eyes but breakfast continued on without another word said on the matter just as Slade had wanted.

…………………………………

“Thank you for coming all the way over to make me breakfast even though I have perfectly good cereal in the fridge,” Dick chirped as he and Slade washed the dishes at the sink since Dick’s dishwasher was - surprise surprise to nobody - broken.

“You need to eat something more healthy and substantial than cereal,” Slade replied calmly as he dried the last plate and moved to put it away.

Dick shrugged, hopping up on the counter. “I don’t care, I like cereal.”

Slade heaved a sigh. “I know.”

DIck grinned before sobering. “Seriously though, thank you. I know it’s a long drive and despite the fact that we’re technically a couple, you still sometimes hate me.”

“Hate is relative, kid.”

Dick blinked. “I feel like that should be offensive but I don’t think I care,” he said, shrugging.

“Of course you don’t.”

Dick beamed, hopping off the counter and bouncing over to press a kiss to Slade’s jaw since the six foot four mercenary refused to bend over to accommodate for Dick’s tiny five ten frame.

“You wanna sit on the couch and cuddle?” he asked, intentionally being mushy for the sole purpose of irritating the older man.

It worked, evidently, because Slade heaved a loud sigh and muttered, “I would rather shoot my other eye out.”

Dick beamed. “Good thing there are no guns here!”

As they made their way to the couch, Dick was almost certain he heard Slade muttered,

“That you know of.”

He decided to ignore it, shoving it beside the echoing gunshot ringing in his head.

_Kid’s already been tainted, ma’am._

_Kid's already been tainted._

_Kid's already tainted._

_Already tainted._

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know your thoughts


End file.
